{"id":44760,"date":"2025-03-20T01:16:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T01:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760"},"modified":"2025-03-20T01:16:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T01:16:55","slug":"aroldis-chapman-favored-to-earn-red-sox-closer-role-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760","title":{"rendered":"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 37-year-old is expected to get the first crack at anchoring Boston’s bullpen in 2025.<\/h2>\n
\"Aroldis<\/div>\n

With just over a week until Opening Day, a clear frontrunner has emerged in the Boston Red Sox closer competition.<\/p>\n

Veteran left-hander Aroldis Chapman is the “in-house favorite” to begin the 2025 season as Boston’s closer, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam. The 37-year-old has been competing with Liam Hendriks and Justin Slaten for the role in spring training.<\/p>\n

Chapman’s performance has been as advertised so far this spring. The seven-time All-Star has racked up 10 strikeouts over 5.1 innings (six games), but his four walks suggest command remains a concern. He had 5.7 walks per nine innings last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and hasn’t had a BB\/9 below 5.0 since 2020.<\/p>\n

Still, Chapman’s pitching has looked sharper than Hendriks’ and Slaten’s over the last month. Hendriks, returning from Tommy John recovery, entered Tuesday with a 10.80 ERA over five spring appearances. Slaten has a 4.91 ERA in four games.<\/p>\n

If Chapman falters out of the gate, the Red Sox shouldn’t hesitate to give the closer job to Hendriks or Slaten. Hendriks was an elite closer from 2019-22 and Slaten is coming off a breakout rookie season in which he notched a 2.93 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 44 appearances.<\/p>\n

The trio will play a significant role in the club’s 2025 success. Boston’s bullpen ranked near the bottom of the league in ERA (4.39) and WHIP (1.34) last year.<\/p>\n

Red Sox manager Alex Cora has not yet made any official Opening Day roster decisions. He’ll have to finalize his 26-man roster before March 27, when the club begins its 2025 campaign on the road against the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Boston signed Chapman to a one-year, $10.75 million contract in December. Chapman has 15 years of MLB experience with the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Pirates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aroldis Chapman appears on track to open the 2025 season as the Red Sox closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":44761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1882,73,1883],"class_list":["post-44760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-aroldis-chapman","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-liam-hendriks"],"yoast_head":"\nAroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aroldis Chapman appears on track to open the 2025 season as the Red Sox closer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760\",\"name\":\"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\",\"name\":\"MsNga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsNga\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365","og_description":"Aroldis Chapman appears on track to open the 2025 season as the Red Sox closer.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MsNga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsNga","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760","name":"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-20T01:16:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-180.jpg","width":1600,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=44760#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Aroldis Chapman favored to earn Red Sox closer role: Report"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798","name":"MsNga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsNga"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44762,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44760\/revisions\/44762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}